Sybilline prophecies.
The Sibylline Books (Latin: Libri Sibyllini) were a collection of oracular utterances, set out in Greek hexameters, purchased from a sibyl by the last king of Rome, Tarquinius Superbus, and consulted at momentous crises through the history of the Republic and the Empire. Only fragments have survived, the rest being lost or deliberately destroyed. History According to the Roman tradition, the oldest collection of Sibylline books appears to have been made about the time of Solon and Cyrus at Gergis on Mount Ida in the Troad; it was attributed to the Hellespontine Sibyl and was preserved in the temple of Apollo at Gergis. From Gergis the collection passed to Erythrae, where it became famous as the oracles of the Erythraean Sibyl. It would appear to have been this very collection that found its way to Cumae (see the Cumaean Sibyl) and from Cumae to Rome. The story of the acquisition of the Sibylline Books by Tarquinius is one of the famous mythic elements of Roman history. The Cumaean Sibyl offered to Tarquinius nine books of these prophecies; and as the king declined to purchase them, owing to the exorbitant price she demanded, she burned three and offered the remaining six to Tarquinius at the same stiff price, which he again refused, whereupon she burned three more and repeated her offer. Tarquinius then relented and purchased the last three at the full original price and had them preserved in a vault beneath the Capitoline temple of Jupiter. The story is alluded to in Varro's lost books quoted in Lactantius Institutiones Divinae (I: 6) and by Origen. The Roman Senate kept tight control over the Sibylline Books; Sibylline Books were entrusted to the care of two patricians; after 367 BC ten custodians were appointed, five patricians and five plebeians, who were called the decemviri sacris faciundis; subsequently (probably in the time of Sulla) their number was increased to fifteen, the quindecimviri sacris faciundis. They were usually ex-consuls or ex-praetors. They held office for life, and were exempt from all other public duties. They had the responsibility of keeping the books in safety and secrecy. These officials, at the command of the Senate, consulted the Sibylline Books in order to discover not exact predictions of definite future events in the form of prophecy but the religious observances necessary to avert extraordinary calamities and to expiate ominous prodigies (comets and earthquakes, showers of stones, plague, and the like). It was only the rites of expiation prescribed by the Sibylline Books, according to the interpretation of the oracle that were communicated to the public, and not the oracles themselves, which left ample opportunity for abuses. In particular, the keepers of the Sibylline Books had the superintendence of the worship of Apollo, of the "Great Mother" Cybele or Magna Mater, and of Ceres, which had been introduced upon recommendations as interpreted from the Sibylline Books. The Sibylline Books motivated the construction of eight temples in ancient Rome, aside from those cults that have been interpreted as mediated by the Sibylline Books simply by the Greek nature of the deity. Thus, one important effect of the Sibylline Books was their influence on applying Greek cult practice and Greek conceptions of deities to indigenous Roman religion, which was already indirectly influenced through Etruscan religion. As the Sibylline Books had been collected in Anatolia, in the neighborhood of Troy, they recognized the gods and goddesses and the rites observed there and helped introduce them into Roman state worship, a syncretic amalgamation of national deities with the corresponding deities of Greece, and a general modification of the Roman religion. Since they were written in hexameter verse and in Greek, the college of curators was always assisted by two Greek interpreters. The books were kept in the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitol, and, when the temple burned in 83 BC, they were lost. The Roman Senate sent envoys in 76 BC to replace them with a collection of similar oracular sayings, in particular collected from Ilium, Erythrae, Samos, Sicily, and Africa.3 This new Sibylline collection was deposited in the restored temple, together with similar sayings of native origin, e.g. those of the Sibyl at Tibur (the 'Tiburtine Sibyl') of the brothers Marcius, and others, which had been circulating in private hands but which were called in, to be delivered to the Urban Praetor, private ownership of such works being declared illicit, and to be evaluated by the Quindecemviri, who then sorted them, retaining only those that appeared true to them.4 From the Capitol they were transferred by Augustus as pontifex maximus in 12 BC, to the temple of Apollo Patrous on the Palatine, after they had been examined and copied; there they remain. Some genuine Sibylline verses are preserved in the Book of Marvels or Memorabilia of Phlegon of Tralles (2nd century AD). These represent an oracle, or a combination of two oracles, of seventy hexameters in all. They report the birth of an androgyne, and prescribe a long list of rituals and offerings to the gods. The Three Great Threats The Sybiline prophecies are most well known in popular lore for their predictions of the three great threats that to Rome's existence. The Sibylline prophecies tell of three mortal enemies that would challenge Rome. The first two would be defeated. The third will bring about the downfall of the Empire, the downfall of Rome and usher in a new age in which hundreds of thousands will die, the world be torn asunder and wrought anew. Alaric The first enemy Rome was that of the Barbarian hordes that rode from across the Carpathian Mountains on immortal steeds. The horses who were blinded by their masters at birth ran without fear into a frenzied battle with glowing red-demon eyes in their sightless sockets. They would be led by a foe the likes of which Rome had never seen; a giant amongst men who wielded a battle axe and claimed to be a scion of a long lost God of the North. He would best Rome in three epic battles, before finally being defeated by love. The prophecy was not wrong. The armies from across the mountains came in the early days of the Republic, led by the larger than life Alaric. Alaric was never defeated in single combat, nor lost on the fields of battle to any force from Rome. He pillaged, burned and raped his way across the continent, leaving in his path a scorched and desolate land, the scars of which have still not healed. Three great armies were raised by Rome. The first, defeated in the swamps of Valerian, was a massive army of fifty thousand, of whom only one retuned to share the horror. After telling his story, he was strangled for abandoning his comrades. The second army, led by the great general and legate Regulus, faced the hordes on the fertile plains outside of Rome. The citizens watched from the walls as his army was torn asunder. Alaric cut a swath through the ranks until at last coming face to face with Regulus. Surrounded by the clashing of their armies, they met in single combat. Alaric tore Regulus’ head from his body like a child rips apart a straw doll. He pulled the globes from the sockets of his skull and ate them as if they were grapes. Seeing this horror, the legions broke and dashed in panic back to the gates of Rome. Only, it was deemed too risky to open the gates with the barbarian hordes so close behind. Wives watched their husbands be slaughtered or lead away to slavery. Children wept and the elders, while remaining stoic-faced, bled on the inside. This was the second great loss. But after five years of deadly siege, Alaric gave up trying to capture the city and, his armies hungry for plunder and rape, headed South to fall upon the less defended citizens of the Republic. A third massive army was raised from those able-bodied men that remained within the city and the citizen state allies scattered across the continent. This army led by the Consul Crassus, who had been appointed dictator to deal with the threat, led this contingent, chasing Alaric’s weakening hordes across the ravages of the continent and finally cornered him on the plains of Cannae. Here Alaric was outnumbered by two to one by his Roman pursuers, but he turned to fight. Luring the legions in, Alaric bore the brunt of their attack, repeatedly falling back and allowing the Romans to advance. Crassus, flush with success, plowed deeply into Alaric’s ranks, as they feigned fear confusion. Soon Crassus’s forces were surrounded and Alaric’s flanks closed in, consuming the Romans within the serrated maw of the barbarians. This time not a single survivor returned to Rome. The tale was only learnt of later through the stories of barbarian prisoners. But as the prophecies predicted, Alaric was brought down by love. Added to his harem was a young girl, the daughter of a patrician senator with whom Alaric fell in love with instantly. In deference to her, he gave her father a speedy death and placed her at the apex of his harem, eschewing all other pleasures for languid days and nights in her company. He renamed her, calling her Elektra. Determined to take Rome and give it to his new love as a present that would please her, he assembled his forces for a last push against the crippled city. But, as he slept, sated by wine and pleasure, Elektra drove a bone-handled dagger through his throat. Alaric’s dying grasps brought the guards who were just in time to witness Elektra plunge the dagger through her bowels and collapse upon the mighty warrior. What no Roman general had been able to do, a slender sixteen year-old girl had done. The armies of Alaric dissolved in bickering and discord, until at last they were hunted down--killed and enslaved. This was the first existential crisis that Rome had faced. Hundreds of years passed. Rome expanded. The Republic lapsed and the Empire rose. Rome’s borders passed into uncharted lands. Strange exotic slaves from around the world streamed into Rome’s frontiers, bringing with the tales of the dark unknowns and wonders that lurked across the forests and mountains that served as the natural borders of the empire. Hannibal and the Punic Wars The second threat to face Rome was to have come from the sea. And in the reign of Augustus Magnus, it came swiftly: a mighty armada from the Southern shores, across the great sea, led by the Pirate King Hannnibal, bore down upon the empire. Rome’s ships were plundered, her ports besieged and the many tentacles of her trade and influence were cut down to stumps. Paralyzed without the sea or her navy, Rome’s cities were left to wither on the vine. The great pirate king, Hannibal held the empire in fear. It was the discovery of the bloodmorphs which saved Rome. Every Roman felt great comfort and reassurance when bathed in the deep crimson glow, the synchronized pulsations of the tiny creatures. Bloodmorphs meant power, safety and comfort. A world without them was now inconceivable. A morph powered navy was hastily assembled and, although massively outnumbered, this new technology and the calm command of Augustus drove the pirate fleets into the depths of the ocean. It was the new Roman submersible ships the pirates feared the most. They had no defense against them. Hannibal was plucked from his sinking quinquereme and brought to Rome, paraded in a great triumph in front of the broken hulks of his fleet and the bound survivors of his navy, and at the end of the procession, he was ceremonially drowned in the amphitheatre to the rapturous applause of the citizenry. The Third Prophecy The third prophecy speaks of the destruction, downfall and immolation of the Roman city, it's Empire and it's people. This has not come to pass and many believe its existence is mere a superstious relic left over from a time the old gods were celebrated and worshiped. It is still believed by many Bachhanites as truth that will pass and is a core belief in the underground and heretical Sybelline cults that still plague the Empire. The prophecy preaches that a young orphaned girl will lead a great army of men and gods against the walls of Rome and will triumph in a series of increasing victories that culminate in the destruction of Rome and the rise of a new civilization led by this heretic girl. While the exact details and timelines of the prophecy are known to exist in the books, the exact knowledge is known by only a few high priests of the Emperor and knowledge, dissemination and publication of further information is heretical and punishable by crucifixion.